Life, 1920-12-23 · page 11 of 44
Life — December 23, 1920 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Main Article: "Cultivating Originality"** This essay discusses how dramatic arts students and playwrights should develop freshness and strength through observation rather than imitation. It critiques the tendency to use the word "some" in plays and argues that artists must find their own voice. **"The Worm Turns" Comic Strip** A four-panel sequence showing two men in formal attire. The humor appears to play on a reversal of power dynamics: the first man shows off an airplane loop; the second man watches; in the third panel he's out of sight; in the final panel, he's exuberantly celebrating, claiming credit ("My old Ingersoll for a diamond pin!"). The joke suggests the initially confident man has been outwitted or upstaged by his companion—hence "the worm turns" (the meek person finally gets revenge).
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
BOYS WILL Cultivating Onginality ROM the lines spoken by successiul actors in. successful plays, one can see that the producers have ever in mind the cultivation of freshness and strength in dramatic art. Listen- ing, one cannot help thinking how stimulating it must be for playwrights, those keen students of the people, to go to the theatre and hear the characters talking like real Americans. Take the plays about artists for an example. In them the to the artist: “I only wanted to be some small inspiration to you in your wuck.” the playwrights using the word “ from shifted empha: girl always sa Real strength is shown by some,” in spite of the danger for the craft, the line given is almost universal in studio plays. A little later, in the proposal scene, the girl usually remarks : he it said as Gawd has been vurry, vurry good in giving you to me; I don’t know what I have done to deserve such happiness.” The variations of this are too well known to need repetition. her defense is: “Everything went red [black], and when I came to, I was in jail After a while, when she has shot somebody [hospital, youah ahms, ete.].” hh little gull.” all right a lovely thir Here the man After the trial, when the murder has been mutters, made ul arrested mental development shown to be a in woman, the artist confesses his scarred past, but makes it up by saying: “You appealed to all the best that was in me.” That being the case, she overcomes her impulse to “We refuse him finally, and he says: little gull.” hettah goo home now, THE WORM TURNS Sroxry Steaxcer: See that aero: You can hardly see it— plane looping the loop! Now it’s out of sight Joxes: Hat My old Ingersoll for a diamond pin! comicbooks.com